CU-Boulder biz students visit Nicaragua for hands-on experience with FUPROSOMUNIC

Students developing a business plan for the organization for a Leeds project

CU students spent a week in Nicaragua learning about an organization that teaches rural women to build and use solar cook stoves.
(
COURTESY FRANCY MILNER
)

Over the University of Colorado's winter break, three graduate students headed to Nicaragua in preparation for the spring semester.

The students are part of a four-person team that will be helping the Solar Program Foundation for Nicaraguan Women, which supports the country's rural women via solar cooking stoves, develop a plan to support the organization's efforts this spring.

Graduate students Lora Golann, Emily Deemer and Devon Wilton spent nearly a week in Nicaragua meeting the foundation employees, sifting through financial documents and talking to the local clients.

"We wanted to get an idea of the type of people we were working with and see first person the tangible benefit of the work they're doing," Wilton said. "One of the benefits of working with the women in-person, is it made me feel more like we were working on a real project rather than just a class project."

This spring, the students will use the experiences and information gained over the break to develop a business plan and break-even analysis of the organization's newest venture in their Social Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets class.

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The foundation, known as FUPROSOMUNIC, was founded by Mercedes Alvarez, a Nicaraguan native who currently lives in Boulder. The foundation's goal is to improve the country's rural population by exchanging wood-burning stoves that emit deadly fumes for solar-powered stoves that are healthier for the environment and the locals. The organization started selling dried fruits and herbs in order to financially support the project.

The CU class -- through the Leeds School of Business's Center for Education on Social Responsibility -- will cover doing business in the developing world by working with environmentally and socially responsible companies, said professor Francy Milner.

"Students used to create their own social ventures but they were never launched since they were hypothetical," Milner said. "So if we want to make a difference in the world, then our students have to have real-life, hands-on, meaningful projects."

Milner said while the other groups will communicate with their companies via Skype and email, being on the ground gives the students a better understanding of their organizations and how to contribute.

Gathering company documents is often difficult since many of the companies do not have the technology to send digital files, Milner said. Wilton's team used their cell phones to photograph paper documents during their trip.

The cultural and social effects of a company's efforts are also hard to gauge through video chats, she said.

"On site visits, students can learn things that I'm not sure you can draw out during Skype conversations and emails," Milner said.

Wilton's group was the first to have a site visit funded by CESR as part of their experiential learning efforts, Milner said.

"A couple of years ago we had a team go to Honduras, but the students went on their own and paid their own way," Milner said. "Ideally, we'd like to grow the site visits every year but that takes funding."